Protecting the Image

Washington, D.C. – The American dollar isn't the only currency headed to new lows. After months of drifting along in "the winds of change," America's diplomatic credibility is sinking alongside the greenback.

The Obama White House and the so-called mainstream media, preoccupied with hoopla over "health care reform," meaningless drivel about the 2016 Olympics and the vacuous award of a Nobel Peace Prize, have barely noticed the water flooding into our ship of state. Unfortunately, the Iranians, North Koreans, Russians and the Taliban have all been paying attention. Don't count of any of them to help bail out our boat.

On September 17, less than a week before he was to scheduled to deliver his utopian "world without nuclear weapons" speech at the annual U.N. General Assembly séance, President Obama announced that he was abandoning plans for ballistic missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Commentators around the world drooled all over themselves commending the move as a step toward building "a new era of respect" and noting that the "initiative" would be "welcomed in Moscow."

Obama's presentation to the UNGA on September 23 and his speech to the U.N. Security Council's "Summit on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament" on the 24th were celebrated for their "breadth and understanding" and his "appeal for dialogue in the quest for world peace." But the O-Team's careful choreography collapsed just hours later when Iran's secret uranium enrichment facility, buried in the mountains near the holy city of Qom, was exposed.

In the aftermath, it was revealed that Obama had known about the site since January. When asked why he failed to mention the Iranian malfeasance in either of his U.N. remarks, a White House spokesman said the administration didn't want "to spoil the image of success" during Obama's debut at the U.N.

Of course, the problem isn't "image" -- it's reality. And the reality is that the Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons has continued unabated for at least a decade. U.S. intelligence confirmed that Tehran was building its underground enrichment facility at Nantez in early 2002. Since then, the U.S., the Europeans, and the U.N.'s toothless International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been aware that Iran has continued to build multiple centrifuge arrays for refining "weapons-grade" nuclear material. An arms-control scientist says the facility at Qom can probably produce "sufficient fissile material to produce one or two multi-kiloton yield nuclear weapons per year."

The Qom revelation prompted what appeared to be a new consensus for united action against the Iranian regime. French President Nicolas Sarkozy went so far as to say, "I support the Americans' outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing."

In the U.S., Democrats long opposed to confronting Iran, appeared to set aside their internal divisions over health care reform to howl in unusual unison. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, long admired for her pacifism, ominously warned: "An Iran with nuclear weapons is simply unacceptable… we must use all the tools at our disposal -- from diplomacy to sanctions -- to stop Iran's march toward a nuclear capability."

Even the Iranians suddenly appeared to be more pliant. On October 1 at a much-hyped meeting in Geneva, Tehran's nuclear negotiators sat down with U.S., British, French, Russian, Chinese and German officials to discuss, "continuing activities within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty." There, the Iranians agreed that in exchange for Russian "enrichment of nuclear material for electrical generation," they would sit down for another chat in Vienna on October 19 and "invite" IAEA inspectors to visit the previously undisclosed Qom enrichment facility on October 25.

Now we know it was all for show. On October 9, cleric Mojtaba Zolnour, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative to the Revolutionary Guard, said, "Should a single American or Zionist missile land in our country, before the dust settles, Iranian missiles will blow up the heart of Israel." Then on Monday, October 12, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said, "We have announced repeatedly that our nuclear rights are not negotiable. Threats and sanctions are useless."

It's not just the Iranians who are doing damage to the Obama "image." On Tuesday, October 13, Secretary of State Clinton met in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the "Iranian nuclear problem." Afterwards, Lavrov told the press: "Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counterproductive."

That's reality. And to make sure the O-Team got the message, on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking from Beijing, added: "If we speak about some kind of sanctions now, before we take concrete steps, we will fail to create conditions for favorable negotiations. We believe we should treat this issue with caution. There is no need to scare the Iranians."

Obama has trotted the globe burnishing his image and apologizing for America. He has already visited 16 countries. Next month he will visit four more. He's already the legitimate winner of the "Most Traveled President Award." It's time for him to face reality before it is too late.

Lt Col Oliver L. North (ret.) serves as host of the Fox News Channel documentary series "War Stories with Oliver North." From 1983 to 1986, he served as the U.S. government's counterterrorism coordinator on the National Security Council staff. North is the founder of Freedom Alliance, an organization providing college scholarships to the children of military personnel killed in the line of duty and author of the new nationwide bestseller, "Counterfeit Lies," a novel about how Iran is acquiring nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. Click here for more information on Oliver North.